1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera having a lens the focal length of which can be changed. More precisely, the invention relates to a zoom lens camera in which the finder field of view and/or the strobe illuminating angle can be varied in association with the change in lens focal length.
2. Description of Related Art
In a zoom lens camera (or a multifocus camera) having a photographing lens system and a finder optical system separate therefrom, a lens barrel cam ring which can rotate about an optical axis is rotated to move a movable lens of the zoom photographing lens system to change the focal length thereof. A movable lens of the finder optical system is moved in the optical axis direction in accordance with the rotation of the lens barrel cam ring, between the wide angle mode, the telephoto mode or the macro mode. Thus, a finder field of view corresponding to the photographic angle field of view and or a change of the strobe illuminating angle can be obtained.
The assignee of the present application has proposed a zoom lens camera having a finder device, in which a planar cam is provided to move in association with the rotation of the lens barrel cam ring. The planar cam has cam grooves in which driven pins, provided on frames of a plurality of movable lenses of the finder device, and a driven pin, provided on an illuminating angle varying member of the strobe device, are fitted, so that the finder optical system and the strobe device can be made to correspond with the movement of the zoom lens system.
However, the planar cam which moves in the lateral direction of the camera requires a large space for movement. This is contrary to the realization of a compact and small camera. Furthermore, since both the finder optical system and the strobe device are driven by the single planar cam, the finder optical system and the strobe device must be positioned close to each other, resulting in less flexibility in design of the camera.